Contagion: Is the Pandemic Over?

NYTImes

 

This week, as school started for me, it feels like life has real feel of pre-pandemic normalcy to it.  There are a lot of people out and about.  Traffic seems to almost what it was pre-pandemic.  Very few people are wearing masks in stores or in the classroom. 

Our university follows the CDC guidelines which have been reduced.  Masks are indeed optional.  We stopped offering Shield (PCR) testing on campus.  Rapid self-test kits are provided for anyone who wants them.  Reporting is encouraged and as a result will not be 100% effective.

So, is the pandemic over?  Are we at the point where Covid will be managed like the flu?  Instead of boosters, will we just call them annual Covid shots?  There hasn’t been much buzz about Covid in the news.

When I googled about Covid and Covid incident rates.  There was only one article I saw that gave any negative news and it was a local story to boot:   University of Illinois strongly recommending face covering use due to increased COVID spread.  Strongly recommend is not close to a mask mandate.  I wonder how the faculty and students have responded to the guidance.  While the incident rates have increased, Chancellor Robert Jones noted “…the positive cases this semester have generally been very mild or asymptomatic.”  This was really the only article I found that expressed anything moderately negative.

I hear of cases here and there, but to echo the Chancellor of the UofI, almost all the cases I hear of are “generally been very mild or asymptomatic.”  The New York Times graphic show a low level of incidence but not the lowest level.

The vast majority of people just want normalcy and are simply going about life not worrying about Covid.  People have said essentially that to me.  It doesn’t matter if they are fully vaxed and boosted or never vaxed.  There are a few that still worry and don masks everywhere they go.  They often have a concern about their own safety or that of a loved one due to a risk factor.  I hear no one arguing about masks and vaccinations at all these days. 

What made me think of this today?  It is a combination of two things.  Certainly, the normal pre-pandemic feel of the first day of school was a large part of it.  There was also a secondary reason.  While running an errand today, I drove by the commuter train station near my home.  I was surprised by the number of cars I saw in the parking lot.  It was the most I have seen there since the pandemic changed everything.   The lot was only about 75% as full compared the years before the pandemic.  But this is a new normal.  A lot of people who used to commute are probably working from home. 

What will the rest of this year and next year look like?  No one knows for sure.  I think, unless a scarier variant emerges or something new like Monkey Pox becomes a threat, people will keep acting like the pandemic is over.  I sure hope this is what the future holds.